CVR Energy lets contract for proposed Kansas renewable fuels plant

CVR Energy Inc. subsidiary CVR Renewables CVL LLC has let a contract to Honeywell International Inc.’s Honeywell UOP LLC to license technology for a potential renewable fuels production project at or near fellow subsidiary Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing LLC’s (CRRM) 132,000-b/d refinery in Coffeyville, Kan.

As part of the contract, UOP will deliver CVR Renewables licensing of the UOP-Eni SPA codeveloped proprietary Ecofining process for evaluation of a plant that would convert 30,000 b/d of 100% renewable waste feedstocks such as distillers corn oil into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, and other products, Honeywell said.

The proposed Coffeyville renewables project comes as part of the operator’s ongoing efforts to decarbonize its business, said Mike Wright, CVR Energy’s chief operating officer and executive vice-president.

The contract award follows CVR Energy’s confirmation in its third-quarter 2023 earnings report that the Coffeyville renewables project remains subject to approval by the company’s board, regulators, and other potential third-party partners. If approved and pursued, however, the Coffeyville renewables project would enable CVR Renewables to capture benefits from proximity to the existing Coffeyville refinery, including the site’s excess hydrogen capacity and access to carbon capture utilization and storage, CVR Energy said.

In a Sept. 6 presentation to investors, CVR Energy said the Coffeyville renewables plant would have an overall production capacity of up to 500 million gal/year of biofuels, of which up to 250 million gal/year could be SAF.

Previously planned as a revamp of an existing hydrotreater at CCRM’s refinery, the newly proposed Coffeyville renewables project would form the third phase of the operator’s increased focus on production of renewable biofuels.

Phase 1 involved conversion of a 19,000-b/d hydrocracker at subsidiary Wynnewood Refining Co. LLC’s 74,500-b/d refinery in Wynnewood, Okla., to enable processing of a 100-million gal/year low-carbon intensity refined and bleached soybean oil into renewable diesel and renewable naphtha (OGJ Online, Dec. 8, 2021). The $179-million Wynnewood renewable diesel unit (RDU) in third-quarter 2023 processed 23.8 million gal of vegetable oil, up from 17.7 million gal in third-quarter 2022, CVR Energy said.

Scheduled to be completed by yearend 2023, Phase 2 of the renewables initiative entails a $95-million project involving installation of a renewable feedstock pretreating unit at Wynnewood that will allow the RDU flexibility to process a wider slate of biofeedstocks, including inedible corn oil, animal fats, and used cooking oils.

CVR Energy did not disclose a timeframe for when it plans to reach final investment decision on the proposed Phase 3 renewables project.